


Visiting Hours

by JuliaFC



Series: A Miraculous Ending [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs Help, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Being Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Identity Reveal, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Redemption, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste's Bodyguard Acting As Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir's Parental Figure, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Mentioned Emilie Agreste, Minor Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/Nathalie Sancoeur, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Nathalie Sancoeur Knows, Nathalie Sancoeur Redemption, POV Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Poor Nathalie Sancoeur, Post-Last Battle, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Protective Nathalie Sancoeur, Strong Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Stubborn Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 09:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30019506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliaFC/pseuds/JuliaFC
Summary: ‘Gutta Cavat Lapidem’said the Ancient Romans. Constant dripping wears the rock away.This is the story of a stubborn man’s path to recovery and of the stubborn girl who wore his shell away. (Adrienette/Lovesquare)
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Emilie Agreste/Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/Nathalie Sancoeur
Series: A Miraculous Ending [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2200557
Comments: 27
Kudos: 65





	Visiting Hours

**Betas:** [ **Khanofallorcs** ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khanofallorcs/pseuds/Khanofallorcs/works?fandom_id=582724) **,** [ **Agrestebug** ](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/12552168/AgresteBug) **,** [ **Etoile-Lead-Sama** ](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3180546/Etoile-Lead-Sama) **,** [ **Malauu-LadyNoir** ](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/14274930/Malauu-Ladynoir) **and** [ **Genxha** ](https://www.twitch.tv/genxha) **Thank you all so much!**

**Cover art:[Rosehealer02](https://www.deviantart.com/rosehealer02) on Deviant art. Thank you Rose!**

**Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**Written for the Facebook h/c group “Hurt/Comfort Italia - Fanart and Fanfiction”, Easter Advent Calendar prompt 156: Orario di Visita (Visiting Hours). If you speak/read Italian and are interested in the genre, click here:** [ **Hurt/Comfort Italia - Fanart and Fanfiction - GRUPPO NUOVO | Groups | Facebook** ](https://www.facebook.com/groups/337102974212033)

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

[ ](https://ibb.co/CWd8bnK)

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

The redhead nurse looked at the older man sitting on an armchair, reading a big tome. “She’s here again, Monsieur Agreste.”

“She?” asked the man, his grey eyes training to the face of the young woman, a cold smile curling his lips.

“Yes, sir. The girl with pigtails who keeps asking about you. She asked today, too. What should I tell her?” Her frown showed her hopefulness, and so did the light blush that dusted her cheeks. 

“No.”

The nurse’s eyes widened. “But, sir. She’s been coming for a long time and you keep refusing to see her.”

“I have my reasons. You’re dismissed.”

The young nurse sighed and went out of the room. Gabriel stared at the emptiness in front of him. He was in a small room with walls covered in shiny birch wood. There was only a double bed, a bedside table, a desk and desk chair, a small bookshelf with just a few books resting on it, a coffee table and the armchair he was sitting on. The floor was tiled with shiny bright marble, a brown rug protecting the floor under the coffee table and armchair. A big triple window adorned one of the walls of the room, filling it with bright light coming from outside. It was comfortable and had everything that he needed, but it certainly was nothing compared with what he had at the Manor.

Eventually, Gabriel stood up, put the book he was reading on the coffee table in front of the armchair and moved across the room, stopping behind the door that separated him from the waiting room, adorned with big glass squares that allowed him to see through into the corridor outside. 

She was still there, sitting down on a hard seat out of his room. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. What did she want? Why did she keep on coming, stubbornly wanting to see him? Hadn’t she done enough to ruin his life?

The sudden sound of the bell signaling the end of visiting time tore the silence of the room like a wound. He looked at Marinette sighing, getting up and starting to walk towards the Reception. She was holding an envelope in her hand and Gabriel wondered what it could contain. He looked at the young woman talking to the receptionist, giving her the envelope, then turning towards the door he was standing next to, sighing and walking out. 

It didn’t take long before the nurse came back. But by then, Gabriel was again sitting at his armchair, his cold gaze contemplating thoughtfully on the birchwood wall in front of him, his chin resting on the back of his hands, his elbows perched on his thighs.

“I thought I said that you were dismissed.”

The nurse paled, but she walked towards him and put the envelope on the coffee table. “I’m sorry, sir. The girl with pigtails left this for you at the Reception. She asked me to give it to you.”

“I don’t want it. Burn it.” He looked almost amused at the horror in the nurse’s eyes.

“I couldn’t possibly do that, sir. I’ll leave it there. If you don't want it, you can dispose of it yourself.” That said, she bowed her head slightly and rushed out of the room. 

A hard smile curled the lips of the designer. He rested his back to the armchair and opened his book once more, ignoring the envelope on the coffee table. It was only when he had finished reading the book that Gabriel stood up from his armchair and picked up the envelope that Marinette had sent. He walked decisively towards the bin underneath his desk and made to throw it in there. Yet, he eventually refrained from doing it and his fingers moved to the top of the envelope, lifting up the top fold. He had a look inside and frowned. It was a letter.

He sighed. Before dumping it, he may as well see what the girl wanted. He picked up the paper inside the envelope and started to read.

_“Monsieur Agreste,_

_I know that probably you won’t read this. I know that you will dump this letter in the bin without even a second thought,”_

Gabriel smirked. Mlle. Dupain-Cheng was a clever girl. He had to give her that. If he hadn’t already respected her designer qualities, he would have appreciated her at least for the acumen of her brain.

_“...however, I couldn’t leave this room without getting through to you. Not again._

_Monsieur Agreste, it’s been eight months now. I know that you’re hurting. There’s no possibility that you’re not hurting. As wicked and wrong as your methods had been, as wrong as your desire to call on the Wish was, you were doing it out of love, and that feeling was true and strong. I can’t blame you for that.”_

Gabriel winced. How dare the stupid girl to call his methods and his ways wrong? He glared at the letter, but carried on reading.

 _“I can blame you, and I will blame you, Monsieur Agreste, for the_ **way** _that you have tried to achieve your aim, though. But that is beyond the point now that the Miraculouses are back where they belong. I know that you’re hurting. I can also see that Adrien is hurting, every single day too. As much as you have neglected him and denied to him any semblance of the love that a father should give to his son, he still loves you. But he can’t forgive you. You hurt him one time too many. He tries to stop me every day from coming to the clinic. But I come anyway, because I know it’s the right thing to do. You’re both hurting and you both need closure. Please talk to me. We can try to move forward all together._

_Yours truly,_

_Marinette.”_

Gabriel’s gaze hardened as he read the few lines. He put the paper back into the envelope and made to throw it in the bin. He actually did throw it in the bin. But a couple of minutes later, he picked it back up and moved to his desk. He opened a drawer, putting the envelope inside. 

The following day, the nurse came back in at the beginning of the visiting time.

“Monsieur Agreste, she’s here again.”

“She?” he asked once more.

“Yes, Monsieur Agreste, the girl with the pigtails. She’s back and is waiting to see if you wanted to meet her today.”

“No.” 

More days passed. Marinette was always coming back at the same time, and leaving at the same time when the bell signalled the end of visiting hours. She was indeed stubborn. That was a good quality in a leader and definitely a good quality in a designer that could take his place at the head of the _Agreste_ brand. Gabriel found himself smirking at the possibility. That wasn’t going to happen while he was alive. 

Unless… but he didn't want to even consider that option yet.

_— Eight months earlier —_

_He still remembered it as if it was yesterday, even if several months had passed by now. Shadow Moth had developed a plan. He and Nathalie went to Tibet and found a very powerful blade that was supposed to pass through the suits of Miraculous holders, and he was going to use it to get rid of those kids once and for all and make the Wish to bring his beloved Emilie back._

_Nathalie hadn’t been convinced, though. Very uncharacteristically of her, she had tried to argue her point._

_“They’re only kids, sir. You don't really want to dirt your hands with the blood of two teenagers.”_

_He had given her a curt look. “Enough, Nathalie. Don’t contradict me; make sure that Adrien is looked after. I’m feeling a strong emotion and it’s time for my plan to unfold. This time, I shall be victorious!”_

_That said, he placed his fingers carefully in the holes of Emilie’s portrait and quickly disappeared inside the floor, out of the room._

_The fight had been long and exhausting at both ends. Using Monsieur le Rat yet again as an akuma but powering him up with the help of a sentimonster, he managed to corner the two heroes at the Eiffel Tower. And eventually, Ladybug had been locked inside a human-sized hamster’s cage and he had been able to concentrate on Chat Noir, cornering him and making him end up pinned to the ground underneath him, the sharp Tibetan blade pointing at his throat._

_“Give me only one reason,” he had hissed in the disrespectful boy’s face. The boy, who evidently didn’t know when it was proper to admit defeat, had tried to wriggle under his weight but hadn’t been able to even move. So he had spat on his face._

_“_ Connard _!” had shouted Chat Noir. “I will never give you my Miraculous. You will have to take it off my dead body!”_

_Gabriel had smirked and he had seen the flash of fear in the boy’s eyes. “This, my boy, can be easily arranged.” That said, the older man grabbed Chat Noir by his wrists and pulled him up with ease, slamming him against the cold metal structure of the tower and making him scream in pain. He held the boy’s arms over his head with one hand, while with the other he picked up a rope from his pocket and then wrapped it firmly around the boy’s wrists._

_“Chat Noir!” shouted the voice of Ladybug in the hamster’s cage. “Don’t you dare touch him, Hawkmoth! Don’t you dare!”_

_“Stupid girl,” was his curt reply, his gaze briefly losing track of the boy underneath him to glance in her direction. “Your turn will come soon enough.”_

_He felt the boy wriggle even more strongly under his firm grip and gave one last pull to the rope, ensuring it was secure. “You won’t harm M’lady!” he shouted, but Gabriel’s grip moved firmly to his throat, nearly choking him._

_“If you hadn’t been so stubborn, we wouldn’t have come to this. Now, prepare to die!”_

_Gabriel raised his sharp blade and saw Chat Noir panic. The boy gave himself a limb push and kicked the elder man blindly with his legs and feet, causing Gabriel to make some distance between him and the black-clad superhero and stagger. But nothing was going to take victory away from him, not this time. He was going to win. Gabriel took a step back, closed his eyes and stabbed Chat Noir straight in the chest._

_Or so he thought. Because as he did that, he felt a movement in the air, as if something was getting between his body and the body of the hero in black. He heard Chat Noir gasping loudly and when he opened his eyes, he was met with a sight that he would never, ever have thought he’d see._

_Nathalie was laying between him and the boy, the blade firmly stuck in her chest._

_“Nathalie? What…? What are you doing here?” asked Chat Noir, as Gabriel just stood there, utterly stunned._

_“Nathalie? What have you done?” Gabriel’s heart for once was pounding in his chest. Why had that stupid woman put herself between him and his enemy? Why was she putting herself between him and his dream of getting Emilie back?_

_“I c-couldn’t let you, sir,” whispered Nathalie. She winced as she fell on the ground on her back right underneath Chat Noir, a small stream of blood dripping out of the corner of her mouth. Gabriel saw Nathalie’s face getting wet and raised his gaze to look at Chat Noir, noticing with surprise the tears in the boy’s eyes. The boy managed to detangle his hands from the rope and crouched down on his legs, grabbing Nathalie and resting her head on his thighs. Then, he grabbed the elder woman’s hand, bringing it to his mouth and kissing it._

_“Nathalie… why? What are you doing here?” said Chat Noir in between sobs. She moved her hand and cupped it at the side of his face._

_“I couldn’t let him kill you. It wouldn’t have been right. Not after I had discov—” She coughed and spat blood. Chat Noir gasped, but didn’t lose his grip on Nathalie and on her hand. She disangled it from the boy’s grip and used the knuckles to stroke his wet cheeks gently. “I-I loved you like my own,_ Adrien _. Pl—” She coughed some more and Chat Noir held her stronger, too busy crying to notice the loud gasp that his enemy had uttered._

_“ADRIEN?” shouted Gabriel, his masked face as white as a sheet, his eyes as wide as saucers. From the cage, he heard Ladybug gasping too._

_“Gabriel?” Nathalie’s voice was only a mere whisper, but Chat Noir heard it. His choked “What?” resounded loudly in the emptiness of the tower._

_“Yes, Nathalie?” He grabbed the hand that Chat Noir wasn’t holding and looked at her, the coldness of his gaze completely gone as tears filled his eyes._

_“I walked in on him as he transformed in his room earlier on. You’re better than this, Gabriel.” She coughed again. “You’re not a monster who kills his own son. Or any child for that matter. Emilie wouldn’t have wanted it and you know that.” She detangled her hand from Adrien’s and cupped it to Gabriel’s face. “I love y—”_

_She couldn’t finish. Her hand fell listlessly to her side and her eyes stared into emptiness._

_“NATHALIE!!!!!” screamed Gabriel. He grabbed her limp body forcefully from Adrien’s lap and squeezed it into a strong hug, rocking back and forth and letting out the sobs that he had been holding for too long. “Nooroo, Duusu, Divide. Dark wings fall,” he eventually hissed._

_Nooroo and Duusu appeared in a twirl of light and opened their eyes wide. Nooroo’s little mouth gaped open but didn’t utter any sound. Duusu started weeping loudly the second she saw the scene unfolding in front of her eyes. As Hawkmoth’s transformation fell, the cage that kept Ladybug captive disappeared and the girl moved tentatively towards them._

_Gabriel picked the two brooches from underneath his white and red cravat and handed them to Ladybug. The girl looked at him stunned, but tentatively moved her hand and picked up the brooches, storing them safely inside her yoyo._

_“Do your thing. Bring her back.” His tone was firm, but Ladybug heard how shaky his voice was. His bottom lip was quivering. Never had she seen Gabriel Agreste in such a vulnerable state._

_“I’m sorry, Monsieur Agreste. My Miraculous Cure can only repair the damage inflicted by a very specific Akuma. The Akuma didn’t kill Nathalie. You did. I can’t bring her back.” She fell on her knees and wrapped her arm around Adrien’s shoulder. As if he had been waiting for that moment all his life, Adrien literally pounced on her and wrapped her in a massive hug, as deep sobs shook his frame. “I’m not even sure if my Miraculous Cure could bring people back from death anyway, even if the damage had been caused by an Akuma.”_

_Gabriel’s gaze hardened. “USELESS!” He spat. “You’re a bunch of useless, incompetent losers!” He glared at the young woman with pigtails, and she sustained his glare with her sad but strong gaze. They looked at each other for a long time, until Gabriel moved his eyes towards his son._

_“And you,” he nearly roared. “You don’t deserve to be called my son. You don’t deserve Nathalie to die for you. Going against your own family. What a filthy tr—”_

_“ENOUGH!” shouted Ladybug. Gabriel glared back at her, but her angry gaze didn’t bulge at all. “Monsieur Agreste. You’re upset now, but nothing gives you the right to talk to Adrien like this.”_

_“He’s my SON. I can talk to him however I want and I don’t need to ask a pathetic girl like you for permission in this matter!” He stood, keeping hold of Nathalie’s limp body in his arms. “Follow me, Adrien,” he added, starting to walk away. When he had walked half the distance to reach the lift that would take him down to the ground floor, he turned around and glared at the boy still sobbing in his partner’s arms. His voice was harsh and cold as he concluded, “You have made your choice.”_

_At the words, the boy gasped and detangled himself from Ladybug’s grip to look at his father with surprise, but Gabriel had already turned around and entered the lift without a backward glance._

_— End of Flashback —_

The following day the nurse came into his room once more.

“The girl is here even today, sir.”

Gabriel didn’t even move his gaze from the book he was reading. “No,” he said. The nurse sighed and went out of the room. After the bell signaling the end of the visiting hours rang, the nurse came back in with another envelope. 

“She has left this for you,” she said simply, put the envelope on the coffee table next to him and left without another word. 

Gabriel looked at the envelope with a raised eyebrow. What did she want now? He stood up and made himself a cup of tea. As he stirred thoughtfully the hot liquid and sugared it to his taste, he sat down again on his arm chair and made to pick up once more his book. He stopped with his hand on the book and eyed the envelope. 

Then he sighed and picked up the envelope. Another letter. And a picture of Adrien in his school's hall, standing in front of what looked like a wall with names and numbers completely covering it. Gabriel took the picture out of the envelope and gave a long look to his son. He appeared happy, or at least he was smiling. One of those smiles that lit up his whole face, like those that had made Gabriel fall in love with his mother. Not one of the fake smiles that Gabriel had seen too many times plastered on his face during photoshoots. Yes, he was indeed happy. He scrutinised Adrien’s face. He hadn’t seen him for a while and could notice small little changes in the angle of his jaw and in the shape of his build. Adrien was growing and he could see that very easily even just in a picture. 

_“Monsieur Agreste,_

_I know that you keep refusing to talk to me, but I thought I’d drop this picture for you to look at. Yesterday we received the grades for our Baccalauréat. Adrien got 19/20 as a moyenne generale and a ‘mention très bien’. I’m very proud of him. Nobody else in the entire school got that. I bet that it’s the best Baccalauréat result that anyone in the country got this year. Maybe in the last several years. I thought you may have wanted to know._

_Yours truly,_

_Marinette.”_

Gabriel’s lips pursed. Good. His son had done as he was expected to do. At least all the turmoil hadn’t interfered with his grades. Gabriel folded the letter again and carefully put it back into the envelope, along with Adrien’s picture. He stood up and stored the letter with the previous one, in the drawer of his desk. Then, he returned to reading his book.

Marinette kept on coming back. Gabriel looked at her day in and day out, sitting at the usual chair. Once, around a week after the previous letter about Adrien’s graduation, she brought in a box with her and stopped at the reception desk before going to sit down. Based on the reaction of the nurses, Gabriel supposed that it must have been a box of pastries from Tom and Sabine’s Boulangerie. That day, the nurse came into his room with a huge smile on her face. Gabriel looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Sir, the girl was here again.”

Gabriel sighed and kept reading his book. “I saw.”

“She brought another envelope for you, sir. She just dropped it at the Reception before going.” She put the envelope again on the coffee table and made to get out. Then she turned around and looked at Gabriel again.

“What now?” he asked, not even moving his gaze from his book. 

“She’s a nice girl, sir. I hope that one day you will talk to her.”

Now Gabriel tore his gaze from his book and gave the woman a cold stare. “Nobody asked for your opinion.”

The nurse glared at him and left.

Gabriel kept reading his book for a while, then he closed it, put it on the table and picked up the envelope. Again, a letter. And another picture. Gabriel looked at the picture and cringed.

_“Monsieur Agreste,_

_“I thought you may have wanted to know that last night Adrien proposed to me. We still don’t know when, but we will get married very soon. Probably we will wait for my eighteenth birthday, which will be in the end of July. It doesn’t give us a lot of time, but we don’t want anything big and majestic. Probably we will just go to the mayor and get married in front of our closest friends and my family. No pompous ceremonies._

_Adrien also received confirmation of having successfully changed his name to Graham de Vanily. Now that he’s graduated and is eighteen, the lawyers who are looking after the_ Agreste _firm on your behalf have approached him asking him to take over from you, since you have shut yourself in the clinic and refuse to have any contact with the external world. Adrien said that he’d consider it, but he wants to undertake a Business degree before he takes on this responsibility._

_Today I dropped in some pastries at the Reception desk to celebrate our engagement. Probably you won’t even want to hear about it, but I told the nurses that the pistachio croissant should be for you. Adrien said you like it._

_Until the next letter,_

_Yours truly,_

_Marinette.”_

Gabriel looked at the picture, showing what he supposed was Marinette’s left hand and ring finger. He scrutinised the ring carefully. A classic gold ring with a diamond solitaire on top. Maybe three carats. Princess cut. Gabriel sighed. At least his son had picked a ring that was worthy of the Agreste household. Then his brows furrowed in an annoyed frown. Or the _Graham de Vanily_ one, since he had decided to give him the deepest insult and take on his mother’s name. _How dare he_.

Gabriel put the letter away with the others in annoyance. So his son had taken the big step. He hadn’t even waited a week after graduating, and according to Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, he didn’t seem to want to wait any time at all. Gabriel huffed. His son had always been too impulsive in his decisions. This time was no different. He stood up to grab the remote of the television and turned the news channel on. As expected, the news was already a big hit and Nadja Chamack was showing pictures of the two, wondering whether Mlle. Dupain-Cheng would take over the designing role of the _Agreste_ brand. Gabriel turned off the TV and picked up the phone. 

A few more days passed. The TV kept talking about his son and the Dupain-Cheng girl, analysing their relationship to death. Luckily, they didn't know that the two were Ladybug and Chat Noir, or Gabriel was sure they would have made an even bigger deal about it. 

If it _was_ possible to make a bigger deal about it, considering the news was reported in every single news bulletin, and every time with new pictures and speculations. 

Gabriel switched the TV off after the latest news bulletin and rested his back more comfortably on his armchair. He took his glasses off and wiped the lenses clean before putting them back on his nose, and closed his eyes.

_He still remembered very clearly the day he found out that Mlle. Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug. It was just a day after Nathalie’s funeral. He saw Adrien at the funeral, but his son hadn’t set foot in the Manor since she had died. That day, though, Adrien came specifically to see him._

_“Why are you here, Adrien?” he asked. Mlle. Dupain-Cheng was with him. He gestured to both to take a seat, but both shook their heads._

_“No, thank you,” said Marinette. Adrien didn’t even say that, he kept glaring at Gabriel in silence._

_Gabriel sat down at his desk and rested his chin on the back of his hands, his elbows firmly pinned to the wooden surface of the desk. “I hate repeating myself, Adrien. Why are you here?”_

_Adrien pursed his lips and moved closer to the desk, banging his hands on it. “I want to know why you did it,” he said, his voice firm._

_Gabriel put his hands down and reciprocated the glare. “That can be arranged.” He stood up and looked at Marinette. “Are you sure that you want her to know too?”_

_“Of course I do,” hissed Adrien. “She’s my girlfriend, I trust her totally.”_

_Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “I won’t allow—” he started, but Adrien banged his fists on the desk again and interrupted him._

_“It’s not about what_ **you** _will allow, Father. It’s_ **my** _life, I live it as I want!” His face tinged pink as he struggled to breathe. Marinette put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something into his ear._

 _“I’m surprised,” retorted Gabriel, “at how quickly your devotion for your precious_ **Lady** _has faltered away. Or have you been keeping your foot in two shoes all this time?” He moved his gaze from Adrien’s seething one and scanned Marinette quickly, his eyes darting from her pigtails to her eyes and body frame. “Unless…” he added._

_Marinette sighed. “I’m Ladybug,” she said simply, her hand clenching on Adrien’s shoulder and forcing him to stay next to her._

_“I should have guessed.” Gabriel smirked as his cold grey eyes met her fiery bluebell ones. Then he moved and walked past Adrien, stopping in front of Emilie’s portrait that towered near the entrance of his office. He put his fingers in the small holes that stood in strategically placed points of the portrait. Before pushing in, he said, “Come closer, one at my left and one at my right.”_

_They both did as they were told and as soon as Gabriel pushed firmly, they felt the ground falling and they found themselves going down into the ground on a lift, until their surroundings stopped moving and a door sweeped open in front of them. They found themselves in a big cave full of white butterflies, very much like the ones that Hawkmoth sent off to become akumas._

_“Wh—where are we?” asked Adrien, all his decisiveness instantly lost as he looked around himself with his mouth wide open._

_Gabriel’s stern look didn’t lose his son’s face. “Follow me and you will know.”_

_They walked solemnly out of the lift and towards the bridge, and then on the bridge, Gabriel in front, his hands clasped behind his back. It nearly felt like climbing the gallows. When they had walked already three quarters of the bridge, as expected, Adrien gasped loudly and then sprinted forward, ending up on his knees in front of Emilie’s coffin._

_“What is she doing here? What’s going on?” he asked, his voice echoing in the emptiness of the cave. A couple of bats that must have been sleeping somewhere, probably on the ceiling of the cave, started uttering some clicking sounds and then flying around. In a mad frenzy, Adrien started touching the border of the coffin, tears pouring out of his eyes._

_Gabriel sighed and moved to the front of the coffin, pushing the button that opened the glass, which was undoubtedly what Adrien was looking for. The boy grabbed his mother’s body, reverentially, and started sobbing onto her shoulder._

_“She’s so cold!” he muttered in between sobs. “Why is she so cold? Why is she in a coffin? What’s happened?”_

_“The Peacock Miraculous was broken. She used it too much and fell into this magically induced coma. That’s why I wanted the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous,” he said simply._

_Adrien stopped crying and moved his face from his mother’s shoulder, his eyes seething with hate as they glared at Gabriel. He carefully placed his mother’s body back inside the coffin and gave her a long look before glaring at Gabriel again. “She’s been here all along and you didn’t tell me?”_

_Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Based on your reaction now, I’ve done the right thing.”_

_Adrien roared. “Evil, rotten son of a—” He pounced towards him and would have probably reached him if Mlle. Dupain-Cheng hadn’t grabbed him from behind and wrapped her hands around his waist to stop him._

_“Adrien!” she shouted but he tried to detangle from her hold so she said it clear and loud, “Tikki, spots on!” and in a flash of pink, she became the polka dotted heroine and took better hold of his waist to stop him. “Calm down!” she warned him._

_“Let me go! I want to…”_

_“Don’t!”_

_They whispered to each other for a while and finally Adrien found again some composure._

_“Seems that she’s got more sense than you,” said Gabriel. Ladybug again grabbed hold of Adrien by the shoulders in an attempt to stop him from running towards him. “Behave, Adrien. Even your precious Lady is ashamed of you. You’re in front of your mother!” Ladybug’s hold on Adrien’s shoulders became visibly stronger._

_“There was no need to tell you. My Wish would have fixed everything,” continued Gabriel calmly._

_Adrien, however, was renewed in his anger. “Your Wish, your Wish. You keep mentioning that bloody Wish as if it was the solution to everything!”_

_“Adrien!” scolded Gabriel, but Adrien moved closer to him and glared straight into his eyes._

_“Don’t you ‘Adrien’ me. Didn’t Nooroo tell you that there are consequences to making that Wish? That in order for you to obtain what you wanted and restore the balance in the Universe, something had to happen to counteract your choice? Maybe somebody would’ve had to die. Maybe even me!” Gabriel gasped, but Adrien only smirked and continued, “How do you think Mother would have felt had she woken up and found out that not only had her loving husband been a terrorist for the last few years, terrifying the town she so much loved, but he had also fought teenagers to steal jewellery from them and killed her own son?”_

_“Adrien! All I wanted was to bring your mother back and us be happy as a family again. Whatever the consequences would have been, I would have been ready to pay them, just to get your mother back. Look at her!” He pointed a finger at the sleeping figure in the glass coffin. “LOOK AT HER I SAID!” Adrien moved his gaze to look at his mother briefly, but his eyes were still stern when they returned glaring at him. “Wouldn’t YOU have done the same?”_

_Adrien’s face got a grimace that he had never seen on him. “Of course not. As much as I want Mother back, I don’t want her back at the cost of someone else’s life! At the cost of someone else suffering. Our family’s happiness would have come at the expense of the destruction of another family. At the cost of someone else’s happiness. But you didn’t think about that, right? You didn’t care. You’re nothing more than a MURDERER!”_

_“Adr—” Gabriel began, but the vehemence in Adrien’s anger left him aghast._

_“In fact, the other day you DID attempt to kill me. And you DID kill Nathalie. You ARE a murderer, Father! You’re a heartless piece of shit!”_

_“ADRIEN!” boomed Gabriel angrily. “LANGUAGE! I don’t accept my own son disrespecting me in such a way. I raised you better than this. You’re an AGRESTE, not a tramp off of the street.”_

_This time, Adrien managed to detangle from Ladybug’s hold and marched towards his father, standing up tall in front of the elder man and grabbing his jacket while glaring straight into his eyes. He didn’t need to lift himself up on the balls of his feet to look straight into him anymore. When had he grown that tall? Gabriel hadn't noticed that he'd grown that much._

_“Respect needs to be_ **earned** _. Having contributed in making me doesn’t automatically imply that I should respect you. You’re no father to me. I’ll start the legal procedure to change my name into Graham de Vanily. I don’t want to be associated with you any longer.”_

_“What a load of nonsense!” said Gabriel. “You will go to your room as soon as we get out of here and will stay there until I will decide what your punishment is going to be.”_

_Adrien’s eyes didn’t lower. In fact, they hardened and kept sustaining Gabriel’s cold gaze._

_“No,” he said with a calm that he didn’t seem to feel. “I won’t. I will go live on my own, I’m old enough and I have the money I earned with my photoshoots.”_

_Gabriel laughed. “You’re not even able to tie your own shoelaces, Adrien, and you want to go live by yourself!”_

_Adrien’s glare didn’t falter. “And whose fault is that, GABRIEL?” Gabriel gasped at the evident and intentional tone of disrespect in his son’s voice. “I won’t obey you any more. I’m ashamed of what you have done. I know that Mother would be ashamed of what you have done, too. Especially having tried to kill your own son!”_

_Gabriel shot Adrien a look that, by itself, in the past would have frightened Adrien to death. But not today. Today he sustained it. “Ungrateful little brat,” he hissed. “I had no idea that you were Chat Noir. I wouldn’t have tried to kill you otherwise.”_

_Adrien smirked, a gleam of pure hatred shining in his eyes. “I didn’t know you were Hawkmoth either, but it didn’t stop you from calling me a ‘traitor to my family’ the other day.”_

_Gabriel paled. He had never thought that his son would look at him like that. Those were Emilie’s eyes. Emilie’s eyes that were looking at him with hate. And disgust. For once, he was at loss for words. For once, he couldn’t bear the lingering hate in those green eyes and had to look down._

_But Adrien dug the knife deeper. “Also, when you akumatised the Gorilla and told him to drop me off Montparnasse Tower, you knew damn well that it was me.”_

_“I—” Gabriel’s mouth felt dry. He remembered that day. He remembered it well. “I freed Ladybug so she could save you.”_

_Adrien looked oblivious to Gabriel’s turmoil. Or enjoying it maybe, because he was smirking. “Only when you were satisfied that I wasn't going to transform, so I wasn't Chat Noir. You never cared about me, you just used me all along. Put me on display to be the pretty face of your stupid company. Only THAT mattered to you.”_

_No, he wasn’t enjoying it. Definitely not. He was crying._

_Gabriel put his two hands on Adrien’s shoulders and saw him wincing, as if wanting to shrug them off, but eventually he didn’t do it and just looked at him with a serious gleam in his eyes. “Adrien, son,” said Gabriel with a softness that had been alien from him in the last few years. Adrien’s eyes widened at the sound. “The Wish would have taken care of that. I wasn’t only going to ask for Emilie back, I was going to ask for my family back. I didn’t just want back my wife, but also my son. I wanted us to be happy again. I do love you, Adrien.”_

_Now Adrien shrugged Gabriel’s hands from his shoulders, his eyes hardening again as he looked at Gabriel as if he was the filthiest scum on Earth. That look at that very moment was like a knife stabbing Gabriel straight to his heart._

_“You don’t. The_ **Gorilla** _was more a father to me than you have ever been,” hissed Adrien, causing the flame that had cooled down in Gabriel’s chest to be renewed in its vigor._

 _“How can you say that,” said Gabriel in a choked whisper. Then his eyes hardened and he raised his hand to hit Adrien in the face—but then he didn’t. He balled his hand in a fist and lowered his arm, closing his eyes briefly to calm down the mad beating of his heart as he chose carefully the next few words. “The Go…” he started, but then corrected himself, “_ **Gérard** _only looked after you because he was paid to do so. How can you compare your father to a mere subordinate?”_

_“Gérard did more than look after me because you paid him. In fact, yesterday he told me that I was welcome to go stay with him if I needed a place to live, and you’re not paying him any longer.”_

_Anger shot through Gabriel’s core. He clenched his fists and glared at Adrien, a twisted grimace on his face. He felt his body shaking. “Then go on and live with him,” he hissed to Adrien’s face. “You know what? Since you want to change your name so badly, take his, for all I care.”_

_Adrien moved his face closer. So close that Gabriel could feel his breath tickling the skin near his nose. “Had I not loved and respected Mother, that's_ **exactly** _what I would have done.”_

_Gabriel’s eyes widened. He pushed Adrien hard and spat, “Get out of my sight. Out of my house. Don’t you dare come back in front of me ever again!”_

_Adrien staggered, but didn’t fall. “It will be my pleasure.” He gave him an icy glare, then turned towards the coffin and his gaze softened as he said, “Please forgive me, Mother.” But his eyes were again hard and icy when he turned towards Gabriel, moved closer, clenched his fist and hit him straight on the jaw, probably with all his strength, because Gabriel staggered badly and fell. He looked up at his son, eyes wide, a hand on the reddening side of his face._

_“That’s for Nathalie,” stated Adrien simply. “Duusu told us what happened in the last few years. You didn’t deserve her and you certainly don’t deserve that she died for you.” His left hand was holding strongly the right hand that had hit Gabriel. Adrien was shaking like a leaf. “Goodbye,_ **Monsieur Agreste** _,” he hissed before walking away. Mlle. Dupain-Cheng immediately followed._

_After the argument with Adrien, the Agreste Manor had felt overpowering, almost like a cell to Gabriel; he had decided that he couldn’t stay there any more. Just a few days later, he had left the Manor and had moved to his current location, la Clinique du Papillon Blanc. Supposedly, it was to undertake psychological treatment (although he still hadn’t come to terms with it and hadn’t yet accepted to start seeing a psychologist). To this date Gabriel still smirked at the irony of the clinic’s name._

If there was something that Gabriel had to say about Marinette Dupain-Cheng is that she was indeed stubborn. Not letting herself get discouraged by the constant rejection of her requests to see him, she kept coming back. Every day at the same time, one hour before the end of the Visiting Hours. Gabriel could easily set his clock to it. At five o’clock, she would enter the hall of the clinic, greet the nurses warmly, go at the Reception and ask for him. Then she would walk through the hall towards his room and would sit just outside it, keeping herself busy by scanning through her phone. 

Gabriel watched her coming in every day that week and sitting down for the same length of time and then standing up when the bell rang signaling the end of the visiting hours, and walking out. Until one day she stopped at the Reception again before going home and gave another envelope to the nurses. That day, the redhead nurse came into his room again and deposited the envelope on his coffee table. She didn’t even say anything and left.

Gabriel sighed and put away his book, picking the envelope up curiously. 

_“Monsieur Agreste,_

_I would like to thank you for the beautiful wedding gown that you have commissioned especially for me from your top stylist. It’s a beautiful piece and I am indeed very flattered. However, I have returned it to your offices. I can’t accept it, I’m afraid._

_First of all, it’s too elegant and classy for the simple ceremony that we’re planning to have. Second, I have already designed and made up my own gown for the day. I’m putting the finishing touches on it this week. Don’t misunderstand me, I love the gown you created. It’s exquisite and perfect in every single way. But it’s too perfect and too exquisite. It’s not me._

_Yours truly,_

_Marinette.”_

Gabriel pursed his lips and put the letter back into its envelope with an annoyed gesture. What an impudent little brat that Dupain-Cheng girl was. She dared refuse his gift and send it back. Who did she think she was?

But after the first pang of resentment, he found himself taking the letter out of the envelope and scanning it once more. Then, he let out a big sigh, and folded the letter again, storing it back into the envelope and into the usual drawer. 

Marinette kept coming back, but didn’t write to him again for some time. Every day he moved to his door at five o’clock and watched as the young pigtailed woman walked through the hall and sat down near his door. Why was she that stubborn? Why did she want to talk to him that badly? Why didn’t she just leave him alone?

Then, about a week before the end of July, another envelope was put on the coffee table beside him as soon as Marinette left. He decided to discard all pretenses and put his book down instantly, grabbing the envelope even before the nurse left. He repented of it, though, because the little smirk on the nurse’s face was like a slap as she closed the door behind her. 

_“Monsieur Agreste,_

_I have some news that you may be interested about. I daresay a news that will be most important to you, in fact._

_Tikki and Plagg told me some time ago about a very ancient magical spell that could maybe help Mme. Agreste to wake up from her magical induced coma. I haven’t told you anything about it before because I didn’t want to raise false hopes in your heart already hurting for it, but today I have had a final conversation with the Great Guardian, after having met him a few times in the last few months and arguing my point._

_From what Tikki and Plagg said, once already in history a holder had used a broken Miraculous and had fallen into a coma very similar to the one your wife is in now. That time it had been the Miraculous of the Tiger, but it doesn’t change the outcome of the overuse of the broken Miraculous, nor the solution._

_The Great Guardian didn’t want to help you. He said that you had gone to see him a couple of times since the temple had returned to life and he hadn’t liked your ways. He said that he didn’t want to have anything to do with you. But I explained the situation and eventually he decided to help us._

_It’s a very dangerous and powerful spell and I warn you, Monsieur Agreste, before you get your hopes up. The Great Guardian advised us that it will take_ _years_ _for Mme. Agreste to gain enough of her strength to wake up. Also, she might never wake up, if she has debilitated herself too much. But the mere fact that the Great Guardian will try has brought back some happiness in Adrien’s soul. I thought it may help you too._

_Last night I used the Horse Miraculous and Chat Noir and I brought Mme. Agreste’s body to the temple in Tibet. She will stay there under the Great Guardian’s spell until she will, hopefully, wake up one day. The Great Guardian promised to keep us informed._

_I hope this will bring some joy to your sorrow._

_Yours truly,_

_Marinette.”_

Gabriel stared at the letter into his hands, in shock. So the Great Guardian had finally given in. He couldn’t believe it. He had read the story of the broken Tiger Miraculous in the translation of the Grimoire, and he had travelled to Tibet twice after that to talk to the Guardian and ask for his help. The man had always refused. Gabriel’s eyes fixed on specific words in Marinette’s letter. ‘He hadn’t liked your ways’. As if that was a good enough reason for leaving a woman in a magically induced coma. Who was the villain here? 

Gabriel felt a surge of anger run through his core and clenched his fists around the letter, balling it up in his shaky hands. After a while, his hands distended again and he carefully fixed the creases on the paper, folded the letter again and replaced it into the envelope. He stood up and placed the envelope with the others, staring at the growing pile of correspondence in his drawer.

His days kept passing, set up in his comforting routine. He kept watching the clock nowadays, waiting for five in the evening to see the slender figure of the young pigtailed woman walk through the automatic door. She didn’t attempt to contact him again for a while, until an evening towards the end of August. She left another note for him, which was promptly brought in by the nurse, who again had a massive smile on her face. Gabriel suspected that more T&S pastries had accompanied the missive to justify such enthusiasm.

_“Monsieur Agreste,_

_I’m writing to you to inform you that I won’t come to visit you for a couple of weeks.”_

The sudden pang in Gabriel’s heart as he read the words caught him unprepared. He didn’t expect to actually care.

_“Tomorrow, Adrien and I will get married in front of the Mayor. As have I told you previously, we won’t do anything pompous, only a simple civil ceremony and a meal with family and intimate friends at the boulangerie. We’ll leave for our honeymoon the next morning. We’re going to New York. You may be surprised about it, but we have our reasons to go there._

_I will be back in a couple of weeks. I asked my mother to visit you during our trip to drop off a few photographs from the wedding, as soon as they’re printed._

_Yours truly,_

_Marinette._

_PS: The ceremony will take place at the City hall, at 3 pm.”_

Gabriel folded the letter and placed it back into its envelope, and the envelope into the drawer with the others. So that was it. His son was tying the knot. Gabriel wondered why Mlle. Dupain-Cheng had informed him of the time and place of the ceremony. Did she want him to go? Why? Gabriel sat down on his armchair again and picked up his book, engrossing himself in its pages. 

As Mlle—oh, not Mlle. any longer. What should he call her? Mme. Graham de Vanily? No, maybe he would stick with Marinette. Marinette sounded better. Anyway, as _Marinette_ had stated, the following day and for the following two weeks the young woman didn’t come to the clinic. Gabriel found himself looking out of his room at five o’clock, almost expecting the girl with black pigtails to walk through the door. When he didn’t see her, the melancholic feeling in his gut and the painful clamp that took hold of his heart surprised him.

Around ten days after Marinette’s last letter, an older Chinese woman, even shorter than Marinette, walked through the automatic door of the clinic at the usual time. The petite woman with short jet black hair and piercing grey eyes must be Marinette’s mother, Gabriel thought. Yes, he remembered having seen her once, when Marinette had won his derby hat fashion competition. Sabine Cheng, if he recalled correctly. Mme. Cheng walked to the Reception desk and spoke to the receptionist, leaving a big envelope behind before hurrying away. 

When the nurse entered his room, Gabriel was looking out of the window at the city lights slowly turning on in the dusk. 

“Put it on my desk,” he said, without even looking at the red-haired woman, who just sighed, did as she was told and walked away. Gabriel looked at the light of the setting sun fading into dusk for some time, as darkness took the place of light. When he walked to the light switch and turned it on, his eyes nearly hurt from the sudden change. He eyed the large envelope warily. It looked quite heavy and full. Gabriel picked it up and opened it, revealing a large collection of pictures inside. 

He sat on his armchair and started reviewing what he had been given. Adrien wore a black tux with thin satin lapels, a dark green 4 button waistcoat and bow, and a similarly dark green pocket square adorned with two little pins, a ladybug pin and a black pin with a green paw print. The suit looked well fitted and Gabriel had a feeling that it may have been created especially for him by his new wife. Adrien looked happy; at least in every picture he could see that his smile reached his eyes, eyes trained in permanent adoration on the face of the girl next to him. 

Gabriel took a good look at his son. His chin and upper lips were adorned with a short stubble that took away from his trademark baby boyish look that Gabriel had worked so hard to create for him. He had cut his hair shorter at the sides but left it longer on the top and the whole ensemble gave him a more mature look that clashed with what Gabriel thought was proper. Gabriel pursed his lips. He knew that Adrien had done it just to annoy him to no end. He put away the photos of Adrien and concentrated on the girl next to him. 

As soon as he saw her dress, he understood what Marinette had meant about the dress he had commissioned for her not being ‘her’. He had sent her a classic mermaid style wedding gown with a long trail and a long veil, all embroidered with lace and white pearls. It was delicate, elegant and tasteful and had been the most sold item of his wedding line since the Prince of Achu had chosen it for his bride a couple of years before. 

What instead Marinette was wearing was a cocktail length dress in white silk and tulle with lace decoration and green and red accents. The neck was Chinese style in see-through lace up to her bosom, with a black and green cat paw print pin on the centre of her breasts. A double green and red ribbon closed the back of her dress, ending in a Ladybug shaped pin at the small of her waist. Gabriel nodded his approval. It was an exquisite creation, and it suited her body shape and her frame really well. Like Adrien’s suit, it also hinted at their secret identities but in a tasteful manner and ensuring that it wouldn’t draw too much attention to the detail. 

He flicked through the pictures and stopped looking at one in particular. It showed in detail the lace decoration of Marinette’s dress; he left it on the side, unsure as to why he found it interesting. He would look at it later. But it was when he caught a glimpse of Marinette’s hairdo that his eyes widened and his heart paced faster in his chest. Because there, among the pink roses and red polka dotted ladybugs on her hair pin, was a _butterfly_. And not just any butterfly. Gabriel would recognise out of thousands the brown coloured insect with orange and yellow bands and the two black ocellis on each wing. 

That was an _Agreste_ butterfly. Something inside Gabriel broke. 

He picked up the picture he had put aside, of the decoration embroidered in lace on the wedding gown, and looked at it carefully, widening his eyes in surprise once more. There it was again. The decorations that adorned her entire dress were yet more butterflies. With two ocellis on each wing. It _couldn’t_ be a coincidence. The fact that Marinette had selected a close up picture of her hairdo and a closeup of the lace decoration of her dress told Gabriel that it had been _deliberate_. She wanted him to see it. It was a subtle message of peace.

He put the photo down and took off his glasses, squeezing the bridge of his nose and his eyes with his hand, as a single tear fell down his cheek. She had _included_ him. Even after all he'd done. Even after Adrien had taken the surname Graham de Vanily. Even after all the months of him not wanting to see her; she had _still_ included him.

The following day, Gabriel started attending therapy with a psychologist and a psychiatrist. And he placed a couple of phone calls.

A few days later, the girl with pigtails returned to the clinic, again at five o’ clock sharp. The shadow of a smile curved Gabriel’s lips when he saw her. Yet, he still didn’t accept to talk to her. He did spend much longer looking at her, though, through the glass of his room’s door. She would be sitting at the chair closer to his room, her face fully buried into her phone, scrolling through it, typing on it and occasionally smiling or laughing at it. 

It was a couple of weeks after she had returned to the clinic that Gabriel saw her stopping at the Reception again on her way out. She looked at his door briefly before going and left. Once more, the nurse came in and left the envelope on his desk.

“This is for you again, sir,” she said. Gabriel waited for her to get out to pick up the envelope and read the message inside.

_“Monsieur Agreste,_

_To say that I’m surprised is an understatement. I’m shocked, in fact. I don’t know why you constantly refuse to see me, but nevertheless, I would like to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Adrien told me that you never had a 'Deputy Head Fashion Designer' role at_ Gabriel _. That you probably created the role for me. Of course I accepted. I will start on Monday._

_Yours truly,_

_Marinette.”_

“Good,” said Gabriel, his voice echoing in the silence of the room before putting the letter back into its envelope and the envelope into the usual drawer. 

Marinette’s envelopes started getting more frequent from then on, the girl showing him sketches that she had created for the upcoming spring collection of the brand, or corrections that she had made to the work of other designers. Her eagerness was seeping through the pages and this warmed Gabriel’s heart. He could see his younger, passionate self in her enthusiasm. And he was definitely impressed with her work. He received quite a few phone calls from the businessman he had put in charge of the financial running of _Gabriel_ to inform him that, since she had been hired, the profits of the company had gone straight up. 

Gabriel sat on his armchair again, arms folded on his chest, a soft smile curling his lips.

A couple of months later, Gabriel opened one of the envelopes that Marinette had left for him but, instead than finding more sketches and projects for his brand, he found a new letter. And the picture of a scan.

_“Monsieur Agreste,_

_I’m thrilled to inform you that Adrien and I will soon become parents. We have been to the hospital today for my twelve week scan. The baby is healthy. We heard his or her heartbeat today and watched as it somersaulted on the screen. I enclose in this letter a picture from the scan._

_Yours truly,_

_Marinette.”_

Gabriel picked up the picture and held it in the fingers of one hand, looking at it for a long time. The little figure on the screen was showing its profile, the sharp line of the nose already recognisable and defined. He could clearly see the arms and the legs already showing. onography had certainly improved a lot since Emilie had been pregnant with Adrien. The scan picture they got when she was expecting had been nowhere as clear as that.

Almost reluctantly, Gabriel placed the picture and the letter back in the envelope and the envelope in the usual drawer. He did return to the drawer a few times in the following weeks though, and the softness in his gaze as he stared at the black and white picture was one that had been alien to his face for a very, very long time.

Marinette kept sharing any kind of news from her work and her life. Gabriel learned that she was getting really sick in the morning and that she found it always more difficult to wake up early (he rang his Head Designer and demanded that they would agree with his daughter-in-law for reduced hours, only to be scolded in a following letter by Marinette herself who thought she didn’t need to slow down).

A few weeks later, right before Christmas, he opened the usual envelope to see another picture of a scan and a letter.

_“Monsieur Agreste,_

_Today we went for my twenty week scan. The baby is healthy and all measurements are perfect. I’m pleased to inform you that we will have a girl, Emma. She will be born in May. I take this opportunity to wish you a lovely Christmas and a happy new year._

_Yours truly,_

_Marinette.”_

Gabriel picked up the picture from the envelope and gave a fond look to the black and white sonogram. The profile of the little baby was starting to get fuller, with a little button nose and chunky cheeks. Her body wouldn’t all fit in one picture anymore and the detail in the picture was amazing. 

Emma. That was a lovely name. The only sting on the warm feeling he felt into his heart was that she would have the Graham de Vanily surname. She wouldn’t be an Agreste. Gabriel sighed.

The days melted into months. Gabriel could see the slender figure of the black haired girl with pigtails getting bigger and bigger. As the letters that she sent him started talking more and more of the upcoming summer and then autumn collection and containing pictures of baby clothes among the sketches and prototypes of future lines, Gabriel saw Marinette starting to waddle. The nurses would ask her to sit down on the sofa rather than on a hard chair by his door, and he would have agreed with their advice, but Marinette was indeed stubborn and kept sitting in the same spot. 

On a fine evening towards the end of May, as the shades of red and gold stained the blueness of the cloudless sky and the first citylights started twinkling on in the upcoming dusk, Gabriel opened yet one more envelope from Marinette.

_“Monsieur Agreste,_

_“I’m at 41 weeks and two days. My little princess is definitely cooked and ready to see the world. The ob-gyn who follows me said she will perform a sweep of the membranes tomorrow, if nothing happens overnight. She’s hopeful that it could, because she said that my cervix is quite soft and already 2 cm dilated._

_In case Emma will decide that it’s time to see the world, I may not be able to come to see you in the next few days. This is a picture of the latest scan, a 4d one, that we performed last week._

_Yours truly,_

_Marinette._ ” 

Marinette didn’t come the following day. The day after, once again Sabine Cheng came through the door of the clinic at five o’clock sharp. She left a box of pastries (Gabriel was sure that it must have been pastries, due to the loud squeal that came from the reception desk). She also let another envelope and the words of congratulations resounded loud and clear even with the barrier of the closed door. 

When Sabine left, the nurse came through the door with the envelope the elder Chinese woman had left.

“I expect to get my pistachio croissant this time,” muttered Gabriel as the woman was on her way out. She looked at him with surprise, and she rushed out to get back a short while after, a croissant laying on a saucer plate, which she placed near the envelope on the coffee table.

“Congratulations, sir!” she said before heading out again. 

Gabriel filled his kettle with water and switched it on. Then, he sat on his armchair and picked up the envelope, peeking inside curiously.

_“Monsieur Agreste,_

_Emma Nathalie Graham de Vanily was born on the 22nd of May at 10 am. She weighed nearly four kgs and her childbirth wasn’t too painful. I had a full natural birth. I have enclosed a few pictures that were taken at her birth and after a few hours. If everything is good, I will be allowed to go home today and will come to see you soon._

_Please, Monsieur Agreste. Please accept to see me. I want Emma to know both her grandfathers. I want her, and you, to build happy memories. She’s going to be a baby only once._

_Yours truly,_

_Marinette.”_

She did have a button nose, exactly like the scan pictures showed. And a very dark mop of hair on her head. Emma Nathalie. Gabriel smiled — she had done it, again. She (or maybe _they_ —Gabriel wasn’t sure if gestures like the agreste butterfly in Marinette’s hairdo and dress, and the mention of the time and place of the ceremony, were coming only from Marinette or also from Adrien, but he was quite certain that this time even his son had had a say in this) had included _Nathalie_ too.

Gabriel looked with amazed interest at the pictures Marinette had placed in the envelope. One especially he looked at for a very long time. Adrien was holding baby Emma, the softest look in his forest green eyes. His gaze looked so similar to Emilie’s on the day he was born that a painful thorn struck in Gabriel’s heart. He hungrily scanned Adrien’s face for details. He could see black marks under his eyes (welcome to parenthood, son!), and the stubble on his cheeks was a bit longer and less orderly than on the day of his wedding. But he looked so happy that staring at the sun in the sky would have blinded Gabriel less. The elder man put everything except that picture back into the envelope and again in the drawer of his desk, which was now almost over-bulging with envelopes and papers. Gabriel thought he may soon need to find a different home for those letters.

He made his tea, poured it into a mug and sat on his armchair to eat his croissant and have his drink. After his snack, he again picked up the photograph of Adrien and Emma. He stared at it for a very long time.

Less than a week later, at five o’clock sharp, the young woman with dark pigtails came through the door again. She wasn’t back to her pre-pregnancy slenderness, but she wasn’t waddling any more. She was pushing a carrycot and the squeal the receptionists and nurses uttered when she approached the Reception desk told Gabriel that the carrycot must not have been empty.

Marinette pushed the carrycot to his door and again sat on the chair next to his room. She looked a bit paler than usual and even she displayed dark marks under her eyes. She couldn’t play with her phone much, because after a few minutes that she sat down, a little cry resounded in the hall, loud enough for Gabriel to hear it from the other side of the door. She picked up the little baby and started feeding her on her breast, rocking back and forth on the chair. 

Gabriel opened his door and stepped out. 

The look of surprise in Marinette’s eyes was worth the gesture by itself. He walked to the left of the feeding mother and sat at the seat right next to her, waiting patiently and staring into the emptiness in front of him. After quite a few minutes, Marinette covered herself and kept rocking her baby back and forth, trying to lull her into sleep. As she did that, Gabriel dared moving his gaze towards the little bundle in the woman’s arms.

“I’ve never seen such a look on your face, Monsieur Agreste,” she said softly. 

Emma didn’t look very happy, she was a little red in the face and was crying quietly. Despite Marinette’s best efforts to try to put her to sleep, her eyes were wide open as she stared at her mother’s face, like in a daze.

“She has dark hair,” said Gabriel. Marinette nodded in between rocking movements. “But those are Adrien’s eyes,” he concluded.

Marinette smiled brightly. “Do you reckon?”

“Yes,” he said, smiling back. “There’s no mistaking them. They’re Adrien’s and Emilie’s eyes. I would recognise them among thousands.” He still remembered the day he had first seen Adrien. Despite the dark hair, the little girl looked the image of him. There was no need for a DNA test. Not that it would ever have been necessary.

“Would you like to hold her?” asked Marinette. Gabriel’s eyes widened. 

“You wouldn't mind?”

She stood up and cautiously placed the little bundle in his arms. She was so light. And warm. 

Gabriel sighed. He couldn’t remember Adrien being so light, ever. But maybe he was thinking back with tinted lenses at those first few days, a long time ago. For some reason, as soon as she was settled into his arms, baby Emma calmed down and after a few minutes she was fast asleep. 

Gabriel watched as she put her little fist into her mouth and sucked for comfort. She still smelled the sweet smell of a newborn baby. He looked at her for a long time, trying to carve her soft features in his memory and taking in her sweet scent. Marinette sat down again next to him and waited, just giving him some time for himself. 

“Emilie…?” he asked eventually.

“The Great Guardian told me recently that she’s still asleep, but her vitals are getting healthier and stronger. I hope that Emma will be able to see both her grandmothers, some day.”

Gabriel stroked gently the cheek of the sleeping baby in his arms. “Hopefully.”

“Nathalie’s grave?” he inquired after a little while. He had sent in the last few years some of his assistants to look after the grave, and had ordered flowers for it on special occasions, but it had been a while since he had done anything for it and the thought was always at the back of his head.

“I visit it regularly, and Adrien visits it too. It has been well looked after.”

Gabriel gave her a poignant look. “Thank you,” he said simply. “Not only for looking after Nathalie’s grave, Marinette. Thank you for being so stubborn. I don’t know why you chose to fight so tirelessly to reach me. I have never done anything to justify your persistence. But thank you for doing so.” He stared at the sleeping baby for a long time before locking his gaze into hers and continuing, not breaking eye contact even for a second, “I’m _sorry_ . I know that it’s just a word and that it won’t put right my wrongdoing. But I _am_ truly sorry. And grateful.”

Marinette’s eyes widened at Gabriel's words. “Come home with us, Monsieur Agreste. You’ve been in this clinic way too long.” She was looking at him with a gleam of hope and Gabriel’s gaze fell.

“Will Adrien—” he started, but Marinette interrupted him, placing a hand on his shoulder, “He wants to see you too. He told me that he does, but he’s too stubborn to come.” Gabriel stood up and Marinette looked at him worriedly. 

He moved to the large window of the hall, and looked out for some time, staring at the cars stuck in the rushing hour traffic, his free hand patting gently the baby's back.

“Monsieur Agreste?” asked Marinette, as she stood up and walked next to him. 

He walked back to the carrycot and placed the sleeping baby carefully inside. 

“My name is _Gabriel_ , Marinette,” he said in a tone of voice Marinette had never heard coming out of him. “Let’s go home, if you’ll still take me.” 

He looked at Marinette with anticipation and his grey eyes lit up behind his glasses when he saw her nod. Then, under the amazed gaze of the nurses and receptionists in the hall, he started pushing the buggy slowly towards the door. Marinette followed him outside, a soft smile on her lips. He saw her looking at the clinic one last time and heard her whispering, in a very low tone of voice, " _Bye bye, little butterfly_."

His lips curled also in a smile as he left the clinic behind. He would send someone to collect his stuff and settle the last formalities later.

The road to recovery would still be steep, and bumpy, Gabriel knew that very well. He was under no illusion that it would be easy from now on. Especially his relationship with Adrien would need a lot of time (and _a lot_ of hard work) to rebuild, let alone improve. But it was the time to leave the hate, and the past behind. It was time to open a new page in his life. 

And who knows, maybe thanks to Marinette, one day Emilie would be with him again. Hope was the last to die.

* * *

**Fin**

* * *

**Author’s Note:**

***WAVES* Hello! ^_^**

**Yes, I know… this story is VERY different from anything I’ve written before. It was a very hard story to write, being all from Gabriel’s POV (although I did cheat with the letters from Marinette!). But when I saw the prompt from the Easter Advent Calendar in my h/c group I just had this flash in my head of Marinette sitting down in a waiting room and Gabriel looking at her through the door… and I couldn’t NOT write it. I just think that it would be something that Marinette would DEFINITELY do. And it shows the Ladybug in her: symbolically, she purifies the last butterfly without needing magical powers, only her stubbornness and her big heart.**

**I have added this story to the series "Miraculous Ending" in a way associating it with my previous story "The Dawn of the Last Battle". I would like to specify that this is NOT a sequel to Dawn, but it IS one of the ways that the last battle could end, that's why I put it there as part of the series. To be honest, it WOULD have been easy to modify it in a way that it was a possible sequel to that story, because it's very close, but it's standalone and that's how it should stay. The real sequel to Dawn will come in the next few months ;)**

**Hope you liked to read it and that you will leave me a comment with your thoughts. I love to read what you think about my stories and this one especially, because of how emotional I was when I wrote it, makes me even more looking forward to feedback.**

**Once again, thank you for reading my works, and for any comment, kudos or bookmark you decide to grace this story with!**

**Love you all!**

**Last but not least, if you read this and you’re not part of our wonderful Discord server already, but you enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join our Discord server,** [ **Miraculous Fanworks** ](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) **(for people on FFN or wattpad, discord dot gg slash mlfanworks). See you there soon!**


End file.
